Drying apparatus



April 7, 1925.

1,532,948 c. REEs ET AL DRYING APPARATUS 'Filed oct, 9, 1922 2Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTORS C/aude /Eee 5% ATTORNEYS.

Patented Apr. 7, 1925.

CLAUDE n EEs AND CHARLES F. Binner saivrifijaivoisoo, (garniroRvivIA-k`"DRYING APPARATU'SL Applicationf'ledIOctoberf), `1922". SerialNol593,391.A

Tio-fall whom z'tfmalz/ concern:

Be iit known that we, CLAUDE Rens "and CHARLES F; HINE, citizens of ftheUnited States, andl residents of the city and county of SanFranciscaStateof California, have inventeda certainfnew and usefulDrying Apparatus, lof which.' fthe following is` a specication.

The invention relates to apparatus for dryid1ig'-fsubstance',particularly food prod-` ucts suchfas fruit and vegetables.

lAnobj'ect ofthe invention-is to provide means .for evenly=drying thesubstance.

Another object of the invention is to provide means vfor lreversing thedirection of the-flow of the-drying means over the substance, withoutvreversing the ydirection ot rotation of the circulating fans.

The invention possesses" other adv-an'- tageous features, some of which,withthe foregoing, will be lsetforth at length in the following`description where we shall outline in full, ythat-:form of thevinvention which we have selectedfor illustration in the. drawingsaccompanying and forming part'of the' present specification. In saiddrawings vwe have 'shownnone embodiment of the invention, but it is tobe understood that we donot limit ourselves to such form, since theinvention, asset forth in the claims, may be embodied in a plurality offorms.

Referring to said drawings Figure 1 is a longitudinal horizontal sectionof a dryer embodying our invention.

Fig. 2 is a section taken on the line 2 2, Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a vertical section talzen through the outer casing of one ofthe circulating blowers, showing the damper for controlling thedischarge of air, part of the blower being shown in Section.

The general type of drier to which the present invention is particularlyapplicable, is shown in Rees Patent No. 1,413,135 of April 18, 1922, towhich reference is hereby made for a complete disclosure of a completeevaporator' plant. Evaporators oi' this general type comprise a househavingl a compartment therein in which the substance to be dried is`arranged, usually in vertically spaced layers between which the dryingmedium passes. In fruit driers, the fruit is usually arranged on trayshaving high sides and low ends, so that when the trays are stacked, thedrying medium may pass longitudinally .through the trays. vAs the drying4medium ,passes over the illedtrays from endto;end,"its,

temperature fa 11s,. so .thatthe 'fruit at oppor-,f slte ends of thetray is not -f-funiformly;,ol-rieti.v

The .drying mediumv is passed over the [trays v by 4circulating fansand1n order toaccom l plish uniormdryingof ythe fruit, thefdfirec-I' tionofrotationv of Vthe ,fans is. reversedgat.

intervals, 1 to reverse the .direction v of 1 travel oi.' the dryingmediumover the/fruit. A;

fans are usually belt ,drivenland toQaccomy plish 4their reversal, tightand .loose pulleys and .reversebelts .are required.,A IAn vobject of thepresent kinventionis to provide. means for reversing the vdirection .offlow ofthe,-

drying medium without reversing direc`u tion' of rotation of gtheicirculating.inean's.`

The house is divided by` afhorizontaliceiling or partition 2, formingachamber below the vpartition in which the stack of trays .3 .isarranged, and alchamber above the-.partitioninn-.which the dryingmediumycirculating means are arranged. .Passages arefprovided within .thehouseonboth sides of the tray containing chamber, sothatf the' .dryingmediuun-` may freely circulate. :The house is'further dividedlongitudinally into a plurality of compartments the vertical partitions`51 arranged lin y.the f y i chamber above the ceiling and the movablevertical partitions or doors 6v and 7 dis-- posed in the passages onboth sidesof the drying chamber, said partitions 5, 6 and 7 beingalined.f A heater, such as'the radiator 8, is arranged in eachlongitudinal chamber, so that the `drying medium is tion.

the house, for recirculation. yThe blower and the fans cause. a helicalprogression of the drying medium through the house,

the medium passing over the fruit once in' each convolution o1 thehelix.

The present invention` relates particularly to the circulation of the.vdrying medium over the fruit and the reversal of the direction of flowpf themedium so that uniform drying of the fruit is obtained.. Arrangedin each longitudinal compartment, in theespace over the ceiling is aturbine ino y,

compartment, at the side of the drying Y blower or multi-vane fan.enclosed in a i housing which is so constructed, that it may be readilyladjusted to direct the. dry? ing medium in either direction.The'turvbine blower runners 12, are secured to a vshaft 13, extendinglongitudinally of .the

house and when the drier is in operation,

thiszjshaft is'rotatedA continuously 'in one direction. Surrounding eachrunnerv is a housing 14, intovwhich the' drying medium"is,dischargedfromtherunner and the hous.

ing is constructed vso that the drying medium may ,be dischargedy fromeither of. jThis may be accomplished in many ways and vvin thegdrawingswe have shown f one suitablev construction. y

" The housing 14 is provided with outlet f passages 16; and 17, atoppositesides fthereof,' and means are provided for closing one-or thelother 4of said passages, so that the drying medium may. bev dischargedinV either direction. 1 'This' means comprises ay semi-cylindrical"damper 18, disposed withs *e in the housing andl suitably supportedtherein, )so that fit,;may be lmoved to open i one passage and close theother. This shape ofy damper is preferable`,fsinceit ypresents asmoot'hcurved surface, atthe closedpas# y sage', 'a which conforms tothegeneral shape vo'ffl the housing; so that eddies and other sources ofpower loss'arey eliminated. The

damper usually consists -o'f the curved y damperl member 18 and'a side:.wall 19,

anarm 2201i the damper, extending through e lthe runnerfshaft bearings21 open-ings to permit the of the runner. v v v ',The damperinaybereadily adjusted to open'one or the other/outlet passage'and yin thepresent instance, we have provided nected y. to levers 24C securedto thecrankv shaft 25, vso that upon rotationy of the shaft, all of thedampers are operated.

We claim:

'1. In a.l drying apparatusahouse, a` drying chamber insaidhouse,adrivin'g shaft extending longitudinally 'in A the. house,V a pluralityo fJspaced blowers on the shaft for circulating the `drying lmediumthrough the dryingV chamber, a blowerkon the shaft disposedadjacent oneend of the hou-se and a conduit for conveying 'the medium'dischargedbythe latter Vvblower to the other end ofthe house. ,f -p f 2..In a drying apparatus, a house, ahorizontal partition extending' partway across the house andtdividing the house 'into a drying chamber and acirculating chamber, a shaft extending longitudinally of' the house anddisposed in thecirculating chamber, a plurality of spaced blowers onsaid shaft for circulating v.the drying .medium through hthedryingfchamber; and a `blower on the shaft disposed adjacent one end ofthe houseand arranged to return the dryf ing medium to the -other endvofr'the'house. yIntestimony whereof, we have hereunto set our hands. tr I l' ,f v p CLAUDE BEES.v

' n QCHARLES'fF. HINE.l

